I'll Know When I Get There
Summary: One phone call was all it took to rip Ryan Sloane's life apart (Parrish/OC)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Ryan however is all mine.
Chapter 38:
When Peter Hale had finally shown up at the station, Jordan had a hard time containing his excitement. He wanted to get to the bottom of all of this benefactor business and he wanted to find out how it had come to be. Meredith couldn't possibly have been acting alone and this interrogation with her and Peter might prove that theory. Yes, Jordan was definitely excited.
He had been stationed to stand inside the room with Meredith to make sure she didn't try anything and when Peter finally wandered in, he knew that he was needed at that point more than he had been needed with just Meredith. Peter Hale wasn't someone that he'd want to mess with outside of the station but this was Jordan's turf and he wasn't going to be intimidated by anyone.
The sheriff, as well as Lydia Martin were safely tucked away in the adjoining room, the room that had a clear view through the mirror that let them see everything that was going on.
Peter took a seat at the table across from Meredith and stole a studious glance in Jordan's direction but he didn't make a move, he didn't even nod at Peter, instead he stood tall and rigid, hoping that this would get him the answers he wanted.
"Okay. Meredith, where's my money? Or more correctly, what's left of it." Peter asked and Jordan stood in front of the door, his hands at his sides but his fingers were balled into nervous fists. There was something about the man sitting down a few feet in front of him that bothered him and for the time being he wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe Ryan understood, maybe there was something she knew about Peter Hale. It wasn't that farfetched of an idea considering she seemed to be rather close to Derek Hale, maybe she had some sort of information about Peter that was relevant.
Jordan's hand moved away from his body a little bit as Meredith made a move to lift her own arm. She gently, and cautiously, reached across the table and ran her fingers along the side of Peter's face, her head tilting to the side in order to study him. Peter's hand shot out and his fingers wrapped mercilessly around the girl's wrist as he forced her touch away from his skin.
Moving his hand to his side, Jordan rested his palm on the handle of his gun and prepared himself to draw. Whatever was about to happen in front of him didn't feel right.
"Let her go." Jordan gripped his gun and took a step towards them. "Let her go."
For a few seconds, no one moved a muscle but Jordan noticed the man's fingers loosening on Meredith's wrist. He let out a small sigh of relief and continued to watch as Peter pushed her hand down, setting it on the metal table between them.
"Why would you do that?" Peter's voice was soft, laced with confusion even but Jordan just kept watching them, hoping that they'd get their answers sooner rather than later.
"They're all gone." Meredith countered, leaving Jordan more confused than ever. What had she been talking about, what had happened to him that Meredith was aware of? "The burns…they're all gone."
Meredith's tone of voice was eerie and calm and Jordan noticed that her signature twitchiness had come to surface at full force, her head moving jerkily as she continued to look right at Peter.
"Meredith, you put everyone, including my nephew and my daughter on a death list. Don't you think you owe us the slightest explanation of why?" Peter was clearly furious at the girl, who hadn't even been in the same room with him for more than a few minutes. What sort of thing had she done to the man that warranted this much anger so quickly?
"You said it had to be kept secret." Meredith leaned her body forwards and looked up at him, her eyes wide with wonder.
"I said- I said that, to you?" Peter fired back at her, clearly not believing a word the girl said.
"You said it."
"Meredith, allow me to remind you, yet again, we have never met, ever."
"You don't remember?" Meredith pressed and sought out answers from him. It was as though she was trying to prompt him, to remind him of what had happened between the two of them. With each and every eerily calm word that came out of Meredith's mouth, Jordan tensed, his body flooding with anxiety.
"No, but maybe you do." Peter made a move to get out of his chair but Jordan was just as quick.
Peter shoved the table out of the way, leapt to his feet and set his sights on Jordan, Peter's eyes were full of darkness and he wondered what the hell was about to happen to both him and Meredith. He had been standing in the room to prevent anything from happened, to watch over them and make sure that neither one did anything they weren't supposed to, but apparently Peter hadn't gotten that memo.
Before he could draw out his weapon, Peter shoved him backwards, his shoulder colliding with the wall before he fell to ground, which was when he noticed that Peter had set his sights on Meredith. Peter's hand went right for her neck and his fingers dug into her throat. Jordan attempted to get to his feet but Peter's claws broke the flesh at the back of her neck and Meredith let out a cry of pain mixed with shock.
The sheriff and Lydia both rushed into the room through the door behind Jordan and Jordan leapt to his feet, his gun drawn and pointed directly at Peter, Meredith was left frozen in the man's grasp. The sheriff also had his gun drawn in his good arm, a look of pure anger on the older man's face.
"Don't." Lydia barked, panic evident in her tone. "Don't touch them. If you break the bond you could kill them. Both of them."
"What are we supposed to do?" The sheriff shot back at her and it was easy for Jordan to tell that he had no idea how they were going to get out of this. Jordan knew that it wasn't cut and dry, they were dealing with the supernatural, which didn't always have clear rules.
"I uh I don't know." Lydia answered with a slight shake of her head but she stood right next to Peter and Meredith, directly in their line of fire.
The sheriff lowered his weapon a split second before Jordan did and the two of them merely watched the scene unfolding in front of them. Sure Jordan was aware of werewolves, and a few other creatures, but this was still new to him. He had never seen anyone jam their fingernails into the back of someone's neck. What did that mean? What was going on?
"What the hell is he doing to her?" He asked, breathing heavily from the impact of being shoved backwards. His arm ached and his limbs were slightly shaky but he wasn't going to admit that, no, he was going to try and keep it together, at least until everything calmed down.
Meredith let out a gasp and tilted her head back, her eyes opening in the process. Her lips began moving quickly but he couldn't understand her, he had no idea what she was going on about.
"Do you hear that? Is she saying something?" The sheriff asked in a whisper, fearful that if they were too loud, they might interrupt the grotesque show in front of them.
"Can you understand that?" Jordan added quickly, looking right at Lydia.
"I can, I can hear it perfectly. She was in the hospital, the same hospital." Lydia answered softly.
"Same as who?" Jordan pressed, hoping that things would start making sense soon.
"Peter. It was right after the fire. Meredith could hear him."
"Hear what?" The sheriff broke in.
"Everything. She was hearing every thought in his head, like they'd somehow found the same wavelength and now everything going through his mind was also going right into hers."
"For how long?" The sheriff inquired.
"Weeks, maybe even months. It was almost like he was standing right over her bed talking about the fire, about getting revenge." Lydia continued to speak but Jordan was too entranced by the two people in front of him. Meredith continued muttering, Peter was still frozen, what the hell was going on here?
Peter's hold on Meredith released just as quickly as he had grasped her minutes before and when Meredith flew away from him, the force caused Peter to fall backwards and her to slump in her chair. The sheriff drew his gun once again and pointed it right at Peter, Jordan rushing to Meredith's side to help stabilize her.
"It was your idea and you don't even remember." Lydia accused him.
"Are you kidding me?" Peter drawled, looking up at the man with the gun without a hint of fear in his eyes.
"Hands where I can see them." The sheriff instructed and Peter seemed to back up, his back against the base of the wall as he responded.
"How the hell was I supposed to remember any of that?" Peter slowly pushed himself away from the floor, his hands out at his sides in a lame gesture of surrender. He made his way to his feet cautiously and looked around the room, most likely gaging his chances of getting out of there.
"She got it from you." Lydia forced the words out.
"I was out of my mind. Do you know what it's like for one of us to be in a coma? Paralyzed but cognizant? You try not going crazy." Peter shot back.
"She was listening to you." Jordan spoke up and took up a firm stance behind Meredith, who was still sitting in the chair, barely being able to remain sitting on her own.
A thought had crossed his mind at the mentioning of his coma. If he had spent time in the hospital, did that mean that Ryan knew about him or his condition? Plus Ryan knew Derek Hale, did that mean that Peter would recognize her from when she was younger simply because of Derek? Ryan could potentially hold information on the man in front of him that might be valuable, now he just had to ask her about him without getting her too involved with the case.
"She was listening to the ranting and raving of a lunatic." Peter retorted and thought better of his words before correcting himself. "A former lunatic, I'm much healthier now. I had nothing to do with this."
Peter seemed slightly more desperate and maybe there was a tiny part of Jordan that wanted to believe this man, that wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. He couldn't even begin to imagine how terrifying it would've been to be trapped in his own body while being in a coma, maybe something like that would drive anyone to the brink. But that wasn't as important as trying to figure out what the hell was going on and why Meredith had become more than a victim.
"If she was following your lead on this, then how do we know there isn't more?" The sheriff questioned.
"Stealing my own money, really?" Peter argued and raised his one hand into the air.
"Well you're going to use it anyway."
"Stop. Stop it, this is what she wants, it's why she's here. Look around sheriff, there's three people in here right now, three people still on the dead pool. Me, Parrish and Meredith." Lydia broke in.
"But not him." Jordan ground out locked his eyes on Peter.
"Lydia's right, we don't want to kill each other." Peter fumbled over his words but it was obvious how desperate he was to get out of there and away from the gun being pointed at him.
"The only person I'm pointing a gun at is you." The sheriff responded.
"Then you better make it a perfect shot sheriff because I don't go down easy." Peter was right back to being threatening at this point; even his voice was slightly different, more confident.
"I'm willing to bet that a bullet between the eyes doesn't heal real fast, not even for your kind." The sheriff ground out and cocked the gun, taking a step forward.
"Stop. Please stop." Lydia begged and shook her head in disbelief.
"This department is getting more corrupt by the second." Peter was pressing his luck now and Jordan couldn't help but watch him, waiting for him to make a move, a bad move. "What are you going to charge me with sheriff? How are you going to explain this to a judge? Telepathic girl overhears thoughts of comatose werewolf and decides to enact his plans for retribution. They're going to be pointing a gun at your head, asking you to go quietly."
"Let him go." Lydia interrupted, her voice unsteady. "You have to let him go."
"I'd take the word of a banshee sheriff. I leave, no triggers pulled, no blood shed."
The gun rattling was the only sound in the room and eventually, after a hard fought battle in the man's head, the sheriff lowered his gun and shook his head angrily.
"That's twice Peter, there's not going to be a third." The sheriff threatened but the man was already moving forward, disappearing out into the hall.
"No. It's not finished." Meredith screamed and made a move to run after him. Jordan was quick to wrap his arms around her and hold her back, forcing her to stay in the interrogation room. "No, it's not finished! No! It's not done. It's not finished! No."
It wasn't for a few minutes, all of which Jordan had been struggling to keep Meredith seated, that she finally took in a deep breath and calmed herself down. Peter was long gone, but that didn't mean that he was forgotten, no, Jordan had already planned it out in his head, he was going to track Peter down and then follow him the next day, a day that he had off of work.
Peter wasn't getting away that easy and if Jordan had anything to do about it, he'd find anything he could to charge Peter with and if the man didn't break any laws, well then Jordan would keep on him. He wasn't going to relent until he had something on Peter Hale, something good.
The man couldn't possibly be trusted.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
Jordan wanted nothing more than to get home, get to Ryan and go to bed. He wanted to cuddle up with her and remind her that he loved her, he wanted to tuck Kylie in and let her know that he was right there, ready to protect her if he ever had to. These two girls were his family and he wanted them to know that they meant the world to him.
When he unlocked the front door and stepped inside, he heard the television on in the living room. Of course the two of them wouldn't be in bed just yet, it was barely dark outside, which meant that Kylie would be pushing to stay up later and later until Ryan finally put her foot down and sent the girl to bed.
With a smile on his face, Jordan flipped off his shoes, freed himself of his jacket and headed towards the living room, pausing to peer into the kitchen just to make sure they weren't in there grabbing snacks. Satisfied that the two girls were exactly where he was expecting, he quietly waltzed into the living room and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight.
The two of them were sleeping, curled up together on the couch as a cartoon played on the television screen. He stifled a laugh but studied the two Sloane girls. Ryan had her head tipped back, resting on the back of the couch, while Kylie was lying down with her head on Ryan's lap, her mother's hand resting gently on the little girl's shoulder.
It was quite a nice sight to see; at least the two of them were relaxed enough in their own home to drift off when he wasn't there. He knew how tough it was for Ryan to calm down some nights, especially after weird things continued happening to her, or to the people she cared about.
Tiptoeing forward, Jordan crouched down and as carefully as he could, he slipped his arms under Kylie's knees as well as her shoulders and gently lifted her up, off the couch and away from Ryan, who's eyes fluttered open from the movement. She had a look of panic on her face but once she locked her eyes on him, she let out a breath of relief and stretched her arms into the air.
Ignoring her for the time being, he focused his attention on Kylie and carried her towards the stairs, mounting them one at a time and watching her face, praying that she wouldn't wake up, she looked far too peaceful. Stepping up onto the second floor carpet, Jordan wandered forward and entered her darkened room, stopping at the side of Kylie's bed and gently setting her down on top of the covers.
Ryan appeared in the doorway and without hesitating for a second, she sauntered inside and nabbed the extra blanket off the end of Kylie's bed, then she spread it out over her sleeping daughter's form. Jordan watched her as she bent over and pressed a sweet little kiss on the side of Kylie's head, then she headed out of the room, stopping just outside the doorway and looking back at Jordan.
He rushed forward and closed the door behind him as he enveloped Ryan against his chest, feeling her palms coming to rest against his shoulders in the process. If this was any indication of how the rest of his night would go, well Jordan liked his chances at a happy ending to his less than stellar day.
"Hi." She murmured and relaxed into his hold, letting her head gently drop down so that her ear was against his chest, directly over his heart.
"Hi." He replied, his voice soft, just like hers. "Did you and Kylie have a good night?"
"Mmm." She hummed and he ran his hands up and down her back, even going as far as to slip his hands under her shirt, drumming his fingers against her bare skin. "We started watching Finding Nemo, I think we both fell asleep about halfway through."
"You two must've been really tired." Jordan remarked and loosened his hold on her, peeling himself away from her and taking her hand instead. She leaned against his side and slipped one of her arms around his waist, walking beside him as he led her to her bedroom.
Once they were inside, she let go of him completely and headed right for the bed, climbing into the covers and laying down. She propped her head up on her hand, her elbow in the pillows, and watched as he slowly undressed.
"I was googling werewolves and kanimas again tonight." She stated, Jordan turning his back to her so that he could go to the closet, where he quickly hung up the shirt he had just peeled off.
"Find anything interesting?" Jordan asked and worked away at his belt, once it was free, he draped the band of leather over the doorknob on the closet and went right to work on his pants.
"I don't know, I guess. There's a lot of information out there right but I got to a point where I found myself wondering how much of it was actually true and how much of it was just teenaged girls obsessed with the supernatural filling the web with whatever made sense to them. Just because someone writes about a werewolf in a book, doesn't make everything about it true, right?"
"Right." Jordan chuckled and shucked off his pants, which left him standing in the middle of the room in nothing more than his socks and underwear. Before she had a chance to say another word, he lifted his feet up one at a time and pulled the socks off, then he turned to face her and walked over to the bed, slipping in under the covers in front of her and resting his palm on her hip, his thumb stroking her skin gently. "Any clues as to what I am?"
She shook her head no and scooted forward on the bed, eliminating most of the space between their bodies. Her hips were against his and her hand went right to his side before she curled up against him, shielding herself with his body.
"Whatever you are though, it scares me." She murmured and pressed a kiss against his chest, causing a slight shiver to run through his body at her lips touching his skin.
"Does that affect our relationship? Do you still love me?"
"I love you just the same." She let out a sigh and felt his arm snake around to her back, his palm pressing into her spine as he tried to get her to move her body closer to his. "But it's still scary. I don't like not knowing what you are."
"We'll figure it out eventually." He offered with a smile, trying to assure her that whatever he was, well it wasn't going to cause too much of a rift between him and her, or him and Kylie. So far he hadn't experienced anything that would give her cause for concern; at least she shouldn't have to fear for her safety, not yet anyways. The only thing that even suggested he wasn't fully human was the fact that he had survived the fire that his former partner had set to his body. In his eyes, that seemed like a superb advantage.
"I hope you're right." She mumbled and he felt her body relaxing even more against him. He ran his hand back to her hip and slipped it lower, giving her outer thigh a rough squeeze. She tensed slightly at his movement and lifted her leg up, wrapping it over his hip and pressing her body further against his.
"Maybe this isn't the best time to tell you this but I was talking to Derek Hale today-"
"Why?" She cut him off and studied his eyes. Had he contacted the man for her or did he have some other motive? If he did contact Derek to talk about her, what had he said? Had he given Derek any information that she didn't want other people to know about?
"We needed to get Peter Hale down to the station, Derek was the best option I could find." Jordan explained with a small smile and Ryan narrowed her eyes on him. "Anyways, he told me to tell you that if you have any questions, you can call him and he'll try to do his best to answer them."
"Derek said that? To you?" She sounded confused. While she knew Derek Hale when she was younger, they hadn't been best friends, not by a long shot, that meant that he had no obligation to help her out with anything now, but here was Jordan, letting her know that he was willing to field her questions.
"He did." Jordan nodded and brought his head down, pressing his forehead gingerly against hers. "Why are you so surprised?"
"I don't know, I guess I just…he doesn't owe me anything."
"Well maybe he just wants to help you understand, maybe he knows how difficult it was for you after Cole died."
At the mentioning of her late husband, she sucked in a breath and held it, hoping that she could keep her emotions in check. She didn't want to cry, not while Jordan was holding her in the bed, not while his hands were running over her body, no, she hated crying in front of him, especially when the reason for her tears was the man that she had loved before he had even come along.
"Right." She let the word escape over her lips, but then she fell silent, not entirely familiar with what she was supposed to say.
Jordan remained silent and studied Ryan. His hand still resided on her thigh, her leg was still draped over his hip, his forehead was still resting against hers. There wasn't much space left between them and the only thing that stopped him from taking things to the next level were their clothes, yet suddenly that didn't feel right to him. She was clearly upset even if she didn't say it out loud and if Jordan was honest with himself, he had more questions to ask her.
"Were you familiar with his uncle then? Did you know Peter Hale at all?" Jordan asked and released his hold on her thigh, but her leg didn't move.
"I knew of him. He'd come by the high school at lunch sometimes before the fire. After the fire, I knew he was in the hospital, even passed by his room a few times during my first year here." She answered carefully, trying to remember life before Cole was ripped away from her.
She knew that sometimes her memories were cloudy, especially when they happened at the same time that she had been so happy with Cole, but these particular memories, the ones involving Peter Hale, had rarely involved Cole.
"How did he make you feel?" Jordan asked in a low tone.
"What do you mean?" She stared at him, a confused look on her face.
"Okay, for example, you saw him at lunch, right?"
"Yeah, he'd sit with Derek outside." Ryan answered.
"Did you ever talk to him?" Jordan pressed her and wondered at what point she'd break. He was well aware of what he was doing, he could tell by the stiffness in her muscles, but that wasn't going to stop him, not until she was clearly ready to fight him.
"I might've said hi to him once or twice in passing." Ryan lowered her eyes downwards and stared at Jordan's chest. "I knew Derek, I was being friendly but me and Peter never had a real conversation, I mean, I don't even think I ever saw him outside of school without Derek."
"So you never spoke to him." Jordan stated, trying more to think out loud than anything. "What about the rest of the Hales? Did you know them?"
"Again, I knew of them. Beacon Hills is a pretty small place, the Hales were kind of well known, especially after the fire." Ryan explained.
Jordan nodded his understanding but didn't ask her any more questions. Ryan seemed very willing to help him as best as she could but it was clear that she didn't know much about the Hales at all. Maybe he'd have to revisit the investigation the next day at work, maybe he'd-
"Peter Hale was thought to have been dead though, Melissa told me that a while ago, before you came here." Ryan said, breaking into his thoughts.
"The fire?" Jordan asked and ran his hand through her hair in a soothing manner.
"No, no after he got out of the hospital. I don't know much about it but I do remember Melissa talking about how weird it was to see him again." Ryan shrugged. "I didn't know what happened or what she was talking about, as far as I knew, he was just always around, you know?"
"He's a werewolf." Jordan pointed out. "Maybe he's more powerful than Derek?"
"I think that's a good theory." Ryan murmured.
"Do you know if the rest of the Hales were werewolves too?" Jordan questioned causing Ryan to suck in an anxious breath.
He had asked a very decent question but that didn't mean she knew the answers. If Derek confessed to being a werewolf and Jordan somehow knew that Peter was one too, would it be too farfetched of an idea to assume that the rest of his family were werewolves as well?
"I think it's very possible that the werewolf gene is genetic. I'm only guessing here but I think that most of his family were werewolves too, might help you figure out what really happened the night of the fire." Ryan offered.
"Actually, I think the sheriff may have already solved that, the file on the Hale fire is in his office." Jordan hummed his response. "But you've given me a lot to go on."
"Well then good." She nodded and sucked in a breath. "Do you have any more questions for me?"
He hesitated and considered the answer to her question. Did he have any more questions for her? There was still a bunch of confusing facts floating through his head and maybe once he sorted them all out, he'd be able to think a little more clearly but at that moment, he wanted one thing and one thing only. He just wanted Ryan.
"Just one more question…" He trailed off with a smirk and she widened her eyes at him. "Has all this talk of the supernatural ruined any chances of us having sex tonight?"
At the sound of her laughter, Jordan knew that he still had a chance with her that night and he wasn't going to waste it.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
Once again, for all of you fans of my Peter/OC series, I just posted a special Christmas story that you should definitely check out. Ryan makes a brief cameo in the 3rd chapter as well.
How would you guys feel if Peter and Ryan ever crossed paths? And also, how did you like the latest installment?
Thank you again to my ever appreciated reviewers A and poorxbrokexcollegexkid, and sarahmichellegellarfan1!
Guest: Ryan would've known Paige for sure. They wouldn't have been that close though but they definitely would've known each other. Thank you for the review!
sarahmichellegellarfan1: thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well
poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Yes, poor Melissa does need some adult friends, and so does Ryan. They're good for each other
A: Nah, Jordan's a good guy. Derek was referring to the sheriff's station massacre, he just didn't want to say that in front of Jordan because it's not necessarily something that's his business to know, it's Ryan's place to tell him. Ryan would've been exposed to Paige's death but she's had so many more traumatic things that have happened to her that it's probably not at the front of her mind. thank you so much for the review!
Rasheed: I try to keep errors to a minimum and I'm glad that you're enjoying the story! Thanks so much for the review! I hope you continue to read and enjoy!